


Ultra Galaxy Scramble

by comicalcarnival



Category: Ultraman R/B (TV), ウルトラシリーズ | Ultra Series, ウルトラマンオーブ | Ultraman Orb, ウルトラマンギンガ | Ultraman Ginga, ウルトラマンジード | Ultraman Geed, ウルトラマンタイガ | Ultraman Taiga, ウルトラマンＸ | Ultraman X
Genre: Body Swap, Gen, Ultra Galaxy Fight, and a few host swaps for some ppl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:15:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27663235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comicalcarnival/pseuds/comicalcarnival
Summary: The New Generation Heroes have once again tracked down and cornered Ultraman Tregear. After their last disastrous fight against the dark Ultra, everyone is rearing for a rematch.Of course, assuming this isn't another trap.
Comments: 49
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic was released weekly alongside Ultra Galaxy Fight: the Absolute Conspiracy. While it is more related to the first Ultra Galaxy Fight, it can be enjoyed on its own merits as a goofy romp staring the new generation heroes from Ginga to Taiga.

Hikaru had fought many tough foes before alongside Ginga. He knew when a fight was an uphill battle and when to retreat and form a better plan. Something he always valued was a good strategy, and trustworthy friends to help enact it.

Currently, they were missing a good plan.

Ok, in their defence, they’d managed to walk right into another of Tregear’s traps. Maybe that was sorta their fault. They _could_ try to come up with one on the fly, but that was a little hard to do when you were currently trying to survive within a Bulton’s 4th-dimensional space. Not that he was usually the plan person anyway.

Someone grabbed his wrist, and Hikaru looked over to see what looked like X wearing his Cyber Aegis. At least, that’s what he could make out through his warped vision. “Hold on!” His face twisted around like a Kalidoscope. “Daichi and I are going to try to get everyone out of here!” His other arm merged into Rosso’s face, and that looked vaguely like Victory’s crest within the maelstrom of a dimension. It was hard to tell.

In the corner of his eye, Hikaru spotted Geed, and he reached out to grab whatever the closest thing he could latch onto. Turns out that was his foot, based on what he felt his hand wrap around. The weird lump was _probably_ a heel bone; if Ultras had heel bones. He’d ask Ginga but… When had Ginga ever told him anything?

X must have managed to get everyone close enough to warp, as Hikaru felt the familiar gut-flutters of interdimensional travel followed by him landing face down on the pavement. Judging on the shadows covering most of his head, he was likely human-sized once again. This doubled with the fact he heard humans nearby confirmed he was on _some_ version of Earth. He’d take it over that nightmare of a dimension.

“Daichi, are you ok?” Sounds of a phone ringing nearby caught Hikaru’s attention. “I can’t see! Daichi?” X’s voice was filled with worry as he vibrated harder in an attempt to locate his partner.

Hikaru pulled himself off the ground, surveying his surroundings. There was X, right next to him, the two of them having landed next to a garbage dumpster in a back alleyway. It took him all of a minute to realize he was the only person from the team present. He picked up X, much to the Ultra’s relief. “Looks like we got separated from everyone.” he panned the device around to show his new travel companion.

“Hm… it looks like punching our way out of the 4th Dimension went rougher than expected.” X hummed, happy to be off the ground. “I wish I could tell you which dimension we jumped to, but it’ll take a while for me to repair the Cyber Aegis to get the dimensional coordinates.”

“I’ll have to use the time you’re working on repairs to find everyone else then.” Hikaru grinned, flashing a thumbs up. “Got it!”

“Got it...?” X sounded confused. He’d heard him use the UPG’s confirmation before, right? Yeah, it was all English, but that’s just how he and Shou rolled. “Well, I’ll leave it up to you then. I’d recommend taking off your coat. I’m not sure if this dimension has a defence team.”

“Oh, Right.” Hikaru was halfway out of the alleyway before he took off his jacket. He should be able to walk around with just his shirt and pants, they looked like pretty normal wear. He was five seconds from slinging it over his shoulder when he noticed something off with his jacket.

“Something wrong?” X’s logo reappeared on the phone’s screen.

“Why’s my jacket say Daichi?” Hikaru turned it around. Actually, why was he wearing Daichi’s jacket? And his pants? On further inspection, Hikaru realized he was wearing the XIO uniform. He looked into a nearby window, trying to see his reflection.

“Daichi… is everything ok?”

“I’m Hikaru, not-”

* * *

When it came to wandering, Gai was the expert. He’d seen it all. Planets with three suns. Aliens twice his height with hearts of gold. A cliff you could climb to become a superhuman. And that was just near O-50. Sometimes, however, the universe had new experiences for him that he hadn’t seen before.

This was one of those times.

Hiroyuki was shaking him quite rapidly, muttering something to himself along the lines of ‘this has to be some weird dream. It’s gotta be. Where’s Katsu when I need him…’ while not letting up. Gai waved an arm, motioning to the distressed new kid he was awake, despite how bright it was outside. Why’d he fallen asleep under a tree again?

Oh right, they’d just escaped from Tregear’s trap. “Where is everyone else?” Gai yawned, stretching his back. He looked around for his hat, failing to find it. Actually, his coat felt weird too. Like it wasn’t his usual material. He’d investigate that in a second; when Hiroyuki wasn’t looking worried enough to match Naomi looking at her monthly bills.

“Listen, uh. This is going to sound weird, since Y’know, us New Gen Squad know each other fairly well but.” Hiroyuki was ruffling his own hair in uncharismatic frustration. “Who are you?”

Gai sat back, surprised by the question. Hiroyuki was certainly the newest member, but he’d been around long enough to know them all fairly well. “Kurenai Gai.” Based on the half relieved, half confused look on his face, that’s what he’d wanted to hear. “Everything ok, Hiroyuki? Something wrong with the Tri Squad?”

“I’m Isami Minato,” Hiroyuki replied. “The Tri Squad woke me up, told me you were nearby.” Gai looked at him, trying to take in the information that apparently Isami had dropped on him.

“Isami?”

“Yeah. I can’t find Katsu anywhere and uh. Don’t tell him but I’m kinda losing it over here.” He raked his hands through his hair more, nervously pacing back and forth. “If I’m Isami, but look like Hiroyuki, and you’re Gai, but look like Riku-” He stopped to argue with something invisible, probably the Tri squad trying to calm him.

“Riku?” Gai frowned, taking the time to look down at his clothes. That explained why his coat felt weird, it was denim with white stripes, Riku’s signature orange Space Age shirt underneath it. How did this kid put up with double denim? “Huh.”

He really wished he had his harmonica right now. Maybe a song would help calm down Isami. Gai searched his- well, Riku’s- pockets and found a keychain, a packet of gum and some sort of trading card. All three items had the same character’s face branded on them, text reading ‘Don Shine’.

Realizing none of these were traditional instruments, he neatly unwrapped a piece of gum and began blowing on the wrapper. He’d seen an elderly man making music with a leaf like this a few hundred years ago, maybe he could-

A single note came out, encouraging the wanderer to attempt to play his signature tune. Isami stopped his pacing, looking at him. “Is now _really_ the time for-”

What was it that Riku always said? “Panicking in circles with no plan won’t get everyone back together.” Something like that, right?

Isami sat down and took a deep breath. “You’re right, you’re right.” He sat for a while, listening as Gai played his tune the best he could on his not instrument. Isami occasionally nodded his head, sometimes responding quietly to what Gai assumed was the Tri Squad talking.

“The Tri Squad’s going to try to sense the location of the others, but their range is limited to Hiroyuki’s location.” He said after Gai finished his tune.

“Time to do what I do best.” Gai smiled, neatly folding his gum-wrapper-instrument and tucking it back into his pocket. “Wander.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the McDogs man actually proves the multiverse theory

Daichi fished around in his coat pocket. Ok, not _his_ pocket, but it was the pocket of what he was currently wearing. So Katsumi’s pocket. He pulled out a small wallet and quickly split it open. “Katsumi’s got some money on him, we’re in luck.” He turned to his companion, tucking away the wallet quietly.

“Good, all Isami has is this plastic card with numbers on it.” ‘Isami’ responded, crossing his arms in annoyance. Despite looking like the younger Minato brother, it was currently Shou who was walking down the street with him.

“I doubt his banking information from Akaya will work in whatever dimension we’re in.” Daichi frowned, keeping his eyes out for a restaurant. And also his own body, since It was likely the XDevisor - and X - was still with the real him. But both hosts were starting to get hungry after a few hours of walking, so he’d have to pay Katsumi back later.

“I’m still not sure how you get people to trade you goods by showing people this card.” Shou turned it around, trying to decipher the cryptic card. Daichi made an attempt to explain, only to be cut off by the Victorian. “Hikaru’s told me already. It’s one of those surface things, I guess.”

Daichi shrugged the conversation off, pointing at a building at the upcoming intersection. “There’s a McDonalds there, does that work for you?” He tried to calculate what a meal for two would cost. “There’s only about 3,000 yen in his pocket.” X wouldn’t be happy with him eating more take out, but X wasn’t here right now. Shou nodded, and the two walked towards the building.

Inside, Daichi began tapping one of the kiosks to punch in his order, expecting Shou to join him since they were on the same bill. Halfway through ordering a big mac combo, he realized Shou had instead gone straight up to the counter and was currently in the middle of his own order.

The scientist cancelled his order and joined his friend. Shou seemed to be asking the cashier about a food item quite adamantly. “-don’t have McDogs at this location?” There was a note of annoyance to his voice. “Every McDonalds has McDogs, they’re a staple item-”

“Sir, I’m sorry. We do not have hot dogs at McDonalds.” The cashier looked dead inside, but kept up her polite tone. “McDonald’s has never sold hot dogs.”

“Just get something else, alright?” Daichi cut Shou off, realizing he was getting very upset by his favourite item not being on the menu. “Shou, they might not have that item in this dimension,” he whispered to him. “I’ll take a Big Mac combo, can I upcharge my drink to a coffee?”

The lady looked grateful for Daichi’s words of wisdom and rung in his order. “Fries with that?”

“Yes, Thank you.”

“And for you, sir?”

“Can I get a kids meal with chicken nuggets?”

“...Did you want the toy?

“Yes.”

* * *

“Any luck figuring out Hikaru’s communicator?” Riku looked up as Katsumi sat down across from him, hoping the elder brother had some good news. It was fairly late in the afternoon and trying to locate the others with just what Hikaru had in his pocket was proving harder than expected. They’d stopped inside a library in hopes of finding information, as well as to rest their feet from walking.

“None yet. All I’ve been able to do is call Shou’s communicator.” Riku was rooting through the pile of action figures they’d produced from Hikaru and Shou’s pockets. The only things he recognized were the Ginga Spark and the Victory Lancer respectively, and then Hikaru’s wallet (the accordion of photos that fell out of it when they’d opened it to look took a good ten minutes to shove back in). “I’m guessing it’s only meant to contact other members of UPG.”

“So much for calling the others,” Katsumi grumbled. He started picking up Shou’s figures and putting them back in the pockets he’d taken them from. Who walked around with only action figures, anyway? He’d thought Shou was a bit more… level headed than that. At least Hikaru had a wallet.

“If I knew where REM parked Nebula House, we could try and send a signal, but…” Riku looked around the building the two had taken refuge in, glancing over at the manga section longingly. He wanted to spend all day in this alternate reality library, reading comics that didn’t exist in his own world. Katsumi’s disproving look made him go right back to working the UPG gear for answers.

Katsumi leaned back in his chair, stretching as he yawned. "The local newspaper wasn't much help. No mention of Ultramen in this universe. We're either in a world at peace, or one nobody's been to before."

"So we're stranded until we find the others or someone who can dimension hop at will." Riku frowned.

"Pretty much." The elder Minato brother replied. He turned a figure around in his hands, examining it. “I’ve seen Shou talk to this one sometimes, but…”

“I think that’s Shepardon?” Riku was considering looting Hikaru’s wallet for money, to see if they could buy some food or otherwise. If they were here for a while, they might need to obtain temporary jobs… Maybe there was a Galaxy market here?

Katsumi hummed, still looking at Shepardon’s figure intently. If they could transform, it’d be an attempt at a signal to the others to find them. Riku remembered seeing Shou and Hikaru scan their ultra forms’ action figures before transforming, but neither host _had_ said figure on their person.

So that was Riku’s only idea out the window.

“I’m not sure if we’re making any progress here…” Katsumi stared at Shepardon. There was a look of worry to his face, likely thinking about his brother. “If we’re rested enough, did you want to try looking for others?”

Riku’s stomach answered; a low growl despite his best efforts. “If not the others, you want to look for food?” he gave a weak grin, trying to downplay his hunger. Maybe he should have had a bit more than a cup noodle before going off on a wild goose chase to fight Tregear.

Katsumi’s face went tight for a moment. “I’ll find us food, don’t worry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll do my best to keep up, but my queue of content ends next week, and it's currently retail hell at my job... please forgive me everyone if I can't keep up w/ Absolute Conspiracy like I originally planned ;v; I'll do my best!  
> anyway I'm gonna go nyoom back to animal crossing, the other AC I love he he he


	3. Chapter 3

“I hope Taiga and the others are ok…” Hiroyuki looked out from the cafe he was currently sitting in. Across from him was Hikaru, although he looked more like Daichi at the moment. His face was that of Gai’s, something that had caught him very off guard when the new gen’s leader had shaken him awake in some back alleyway. He was used to the Tri squad waking him up if there was danger. Not Hikaru-who-looked-like-Daichi.

“They’ll be fine, I’m sure.” the carefree host smiled. “If X ended up with me, someone else probably has them right now.” He took a sip of his drink, then grimaced at the taste. “X, do I have to drink this? Can’t I have a late or something?”

“You’re in Daichi’s body, and I don’t want him becoming unhealthy because you drink something with too much sugar.” the phone bound Ultra replied sternly. Hikaru groaned, mumbling something about rather going through more of Taro’s training. From what he’d heard from Taiga, that sounded like something that was… frustrating at times. “No complaints, Daichi has a strict calorie count to maintain!”

“Alright, alright…” Hikaru begrudgingly took another sip.

“X, have you made any progress trying to find the others?” Hiroyuki decided to get back on track with their situation. Hikaru was smart and the leader of the group for a reason, but… his tendency to get distracted easily made it hard to stay focused on non-immediately serious issues.

The Ultra stopped his small tirade on calorie counts. “I’ve been searching the internet for sightings of anyone, but no luck so far.” There was a grumble of annoyance from the phone. “I’ll keep looking; Everyone’s got to be on this version of Earth, my Aegis did successfully get everyone out of that sub-dimension.”

“Thanks, We’ll keep looking around this area shortly,” Hiroyuki replied. They’d been dumped in a fairly downtown area. Not somewhere he recognized, but the observation tower in the distance was definitely the Tokyo Tower, so likely somewhere in the Chiba prefecture. Not the heart of Tokyo, but still a busy place.

“I can take this drink to go, are you done with your sandwich?” Hikaru sloshed his health drink around, motioning his head towards the door.

Hiroyuki nodded, grabbing his bubble tea and cleaning up the leftover trash. “Might as well get back to looking for the others.” He agreed. Hiroyuki was slightly thankful Gai had a bag, it made carrying the few items the two of them had a bit easier. Like Gai’s hat. Why did Gai have such a big hat. It kept slipping over his eyes and preventing him from being able to see. Vastly inferior to the EGIS uniform’s ball cap.

“Any chance I can put Daichi’s coat back into your bag?” Hikaru removed it from his chair, shoving X back into his pocket. (there was a slight complaint about being unable to see before X sighed and grumbled about looking for the others in the dark.) “We’ll have to pay Daichi back later for the food, but thank goodness X has his bank card details memorized.”

That was probably a few steps away from card fraud, but Hiroyuki didn’t want to put thought into that. X was probably the reason Daichi’s phone still had a signal, Although he wished he had his phone to check and/or call someone else with. Why did Gai have ten bottles of marble soda but not a cell phone, exactly?

Hikaru had managed to get a quarter of the way through his drink in the hour they’d spent at the cafe, Although that might just be a measure of his preference in drink versus X’s health concerns. Haruki almost wanted to get something to go that wasn’t ten Ramune bottles, but his desire to not spend too much of Daichi’s money held him back. If X’s interdimensional money transferring wasn’t working, they might be in a bit of trouble.

“Everything ok, Hiroyuki?”

The EGIS member shook his head, realizing he’d spaced out worrying over small details again. “It’s fine, sorry about that.” They meandered out into the street, absently talking about what direction to search in. After a moment, it was decided to head deeper downtown, since it was more condensed.

Hikaru ambled along beside him, struggling to keep up with him. His walking pace seemed to be interrupted by the fact he was used to being… _taller_ , was the only way Hiroyuki could describe his sped-up casual stroll. At least he and Gai were roughly eye level with each other, he didn’t have to worry about low doorways. Part of him wondered who was currently in Hikaru’s body. Were they banging their head on anything? Why was he spending so long thinking about these things?

“Hikaru!”

The UPG member jumped to the side, caught off guard by the sudden shout of his name. “You don’t have to yell, jeez-” despite his annoyed sounding words, he was fairly carefree.

“It wasn’t me?”

“In your pocket!” X rung, vibrating noises Hikaru realized he’d forgotten about the Ultra within his pants, pulled out the phone (accidentally flinging it across the street in his haste). By the time he’d jogged two steps over to X’s location, picked him up and brought him back, X was already halfway through trying to explain that his spark doll was contained within this phone, and _please_ take care of it, he didn’t want Daichi’s phone to be damaged and-

“Not to get in the way of this, but what did you need, X?” Hiroyuki interrupted another round of Hikaru’s carefree apologies.

“Oh, right.” X paused for a moment, clearly trying to repress his frustration at being dropped yet again. “I’ve received a text message from Daichi.”

* * *

If there was one thing being with Gai helped with, it was Isami’s anxiousness about the whole situation. While he was 99% certain Gai had no clue where anyone else was, his confidence in wandering filled the voice of reason Katsumi usually was. Well, Gai and the Tri Squad.

He’d definitely seen Hiroyuki talking to the Tri Squad before. He’d often appear to be talking to nobody, turned slightly away from the group. Isami had only personally talked with them mid-fight, but he was usually busy tag-teaming with Katsumi so he hadn’t really… _known_ them that well before today.

He really hoped he could keep talking with them once everything got sorted out though. Taiga was sitting on his right shoulder, legs dangling down as he kept an eye out for Hiroyuki. Fuma was squatting on the other shoulder, while Titas’s weight sat on his head. He kept shifting, but Taiga just informed him he was doing his daily workout.

Talking with them at first felt strange: a lady passing by looked at him weirdly, and they chatted like they’d known him for a while now. But once he’d realized of course they’d known him for a while (Issami just couldn’t _see_ them), they’d all ended up chatting cheerily like old friends.

Fuma was happy to be with another O50 and asked about Asahi and how she was doing. Gai overheard him chatting about O50 and nostalgically added on, unable to hear Fuma's grumbling about the 'not so nice' things about it. Isami didn't want to ask what exactly O50 _was_ , but enjoyed the chat anyway. (Titas filled him in quietly while Fuma ranted about 'that damn ring' for the third time)

Gai was in the middle of talking about a journey he'd been on for Mr. Ring when suddenly he fell over face-first into the ground. "What the…?" He looked around confused. They were in the middle of an empty street, what exactly had he tripped on?

A hand was reaching out of his shadow, clinging to his jeans lightly. "Jeez Riku, REM's been trying to contact you for _hours_! I've never seen her so mad, aside from that time you-" a Pegasa slowly raised his head out, looking a mix of worried and annoyed. "Oh, sorry for tripping you!"

"A Pegasa? Here?" Gai frowned, confused by how this had happened. That, and why he was on the ground. Probably mostly the ground part.

"Wait, Pega?" Isami squatted down, recognizing it as Riku's friend. "You're here too?" This was great! If Pega and REM were here, they had access to Riku's spaceship-house-thing. REM could help them find the others no problem!

"Oh uh… hello." Pega shied away, hiding his head behind Gai’s legs.

“Pega, it’s me!” Isami waved. Did he not recognize him? Yeah, it was a while since they’d helped Riku back when Tregear had turned him into a Gan Q, but it’s not like he had a different face-

Oh yeah. Right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it really card fraud if you just click "remember my info" in your banking app on your phone, and the alien living in your phone uses that to buy boba coffee?   
> Anywho this is the end of my queue of content, I will do My Damn Best to keep up in the next two weeks (Retail Is Hell During Christmas I Should Have Written More Of This Instead Of Content I Will Never Post Actually)  
> thanks for reading, see you next week!


	4. Chapter 4

People surrounded Shou on all sides. More people than he’d ever seen in his time on the surface. How were there so many people. Where did they all come from. How was Daichi acting like this was a normal amount of people.

“How exactly will we find whoever X is within this crowd?” Shou frowned, standing on his tip-toes in an attempt to see any familiar faces. If it was Hikaru, they’d be able to spot the tall UPG member easily. Assuming Hikaru was in his own body, and it was only him and Daichi who were Ultra Lived into other’s bodies.

“It’s Shibuya Station, we just have to spot my own coat among the crowd.” Daichi was stretching his neck in an attempt to see grumbling something about it being too bright out. Shou looked upward, frowning. It was a cloudy day, how much darker did he want it to be?

“I don’t see how they’ll be able to find this location amongst all the other streets in this city.” They all looked the same to him. Although that’s what Hikaru said about the caves the Victorians lived in, despite them being easy to tell apart.

“This is the heart of downtown Tokyo. X mentioned they were still within Japan, so every single train leads here.” Daichi tapped at the cell phone he’d insisted on getting. Something about using the plastic card in Isami’s wallet to get one. He’d gone on some tirade about yes it probably was card fraud to use a card that’s funds were in another dimension but he could text X and locate him faster like this and something something he’d apologize to Isami if he started getting charges from a different dimension.

“Can’t you call X? Wouldn’t that be easier?”

“It’d be long-distance, and the cheapest plan didn’t cover that.” Daichi tapped at his phone, then looked back out into the crowd. “Besides, It’s not like they’re on the other side of the world, right? We shouldn’t be waiting _too_ long.” He paused for a moment. “I hope.”

Shou decided to ignore that last part and started trying to pick out a familiar face. All the people blending into the crowd made it hard to tell where one person ended and another started. Most of the outfits were dull colours, making his eyes dart to anything bright orange like Hikaru’s UPG coat. Everyone else wore way too many dark blues and reds. And the jeans. Don’t get him started on the jeans, practically everyone wore them and Shou couldn’t stand it. They were impossibly uncomfortable, who would want to-

“Wait, I see my coat!” Daichi pulled Shou out of his thoughts, and he turned to see Daichi standing on the side of a planter for the extra height. “I’m with… Gai!” Daichi jumped down, beelining through the crowd. Shou did his best to follow, darting between people pouring out of the station’s doorway.

By the time the Victorian caught up, Daichi was bent over out of breath in front of the confused-but-relieved hosts. He pointed at himself, gasping for air. “D...Daichi.”

There was an instant realization at what he meant, and Gai pointed at himself. “Hiroyuki.”

“I’m Shou, and you?” He looked to ‘Daichi’ expectantly.

“Shou!” the not-Daichi smiled widely. “I’m glad you’re safe!” There were some muffled noises from his pocket, and he pulled out Daichi’s phone from his pants pocket.

“X!” Daichi quickly took the phone from not-Daichi, happy to see his partner. “It’s good to see you!”

“Katsu- no, Daichi?” X’s screen lit up, realizing who he’d been given to. “Daichi, You’re alright!”

Not-Daichi laughed bashfully, rubbing the back of his head carefreely. “Glad you two are reunited, how do you put up with him talking so much? Ginga never-”

“Hikaru?” Shou finally put together who their fourth member was. “Hikaru, is that you?”

* * *

The closer they got to downtown, the more food stalls they passed. And that made Katsumi worry for Riku more and more. The few coins in Hikaru’s pocket were only enough to get a few snacks at best, which worried the older Minato. Riku had mentioned the last thing he’d eaten was a cup noodle, and the way he’d said it made it sound like that was yesterday.

He glanced over his shoulder, checking in on him. It was still catching him off guard how much taller he was, although that was more like Hikaru’s height than Riku’s. Katsumi himself kept accidentally ripping doors open with more force than expected, Shou’s surprising strength shocking him multiple times now.

“Sorry, can we sit for a second?” Riku asked bashfully. “Sorry, I’m-”

“No, it’s fine!” Katsumi glanced at the bench nearby, motioning for Riku to join him. “You’re hungry, I don’t blame you.” Katsumi stood facing Riku, keeping an eye out just in case. He mentally counted the two coins he’d seen in Hikaru’s wallet. It might be enough for a rice ball or maybe a hot dog at a conbini, which wouldn’t be too hard to find.

He stood alert for a while, scanning passerby for familiar faces. “Are you worried for your brother?” Riku asked quietly.

“Isami?” Katsumi thought about his younger sibling for a moment. Sure, Isami could be scatterbrained, often got lost in his own plans and sometimes was lost without his older brother but… “He’ll be fine. My little brother’s strong, if he’s in a pinch I trust him to figure out a plan.”

Riku frowned, looking past Katsumi. “I guess you’re right.” He didn’t sound super convinced, but part of that sounded like his hunger speaking for him. The elder Minato went back to scanning their surroundings, this time looking for a convenience store. They were somewhere in Tokyo, there had to be one nearby _somewhere._

“Do you have any preference for food?” Katsumi squinted, looking further down the street. That looked like a 7-eleven further down, thankfully not too far away. He could just jog down the street, pick up some food and bring it back. “I can probably get a rice ball, maybe a sandwich.”

“How much yen do we have?” Riku stared forward, face serious.

Double-checking the pocket he’d shoved the coins he’d found in, Katsumi pulled out the 600 yen they had. “Not much…”

“No, that’s perfect.” He was staring intently past Katsumi, a look of pure joy on his face. “Bus fee’s 210 per person.”

Katsumi looked over his shoulder, realizing Riku was looking at a wall of TVs on display in a shop window. They all showed the same screen, an ad for some superhero stage event. Katsumi raised an eyebrow, slightly confused. “Riku, that’s- that’s not a good use of money.” He tried to put it nicely, but it was hard to hide his big brother disappointment towards the genetic Ultra. “You need to eat-”

Riku stood up, determination in his eyes. “We _need_ to go to this DonShine event.”

“I get it, you like superheroes.” Katsumi was rubbing his forehead, trying to figure out his thought process. “But all you’ve eaten in the last twenty-four hours is a cup noodle.” Isami could have ridiculous moments, but ignoring his need to eat so he could- Wait no, Isami had done that a few times in college. Was this a younger brother thing?

“I looked online before we left the library, there’s no such thing as DonShine in this universe,” Riku mumbled something about that making this a terrible part of the multiverse. “How can there be a TV ad for something that doesn’t exist here?”

The older Minato turned, watching as the ad faded into another, the image disappearing from the screen. “Someone from another universe is running advertisements…?” He tried to reason. Who would do that? Who had the _power_ to do that?

Riku stood up, shaking himself off. “It’s being held at Lalaport in Yokohama, Which isn’t too far from here.” Riku glanced around, before heading down the street again.

“Listen, Riku. I get your point on ‘this show doesn’t exist here’ is strange.” Katsumi half jogged to catch up. When it came to things he liked Riku could power walk like no other, combined with Hikaru’s long legs… “But I’m not entirely sure I’m following your logic on this.”

“Who else would know to get my attention with DonShine _and_ be able to get an ad run on TV?” He grinned, not slowing down his stride. “It’s gotta be REM.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one's late I got distracted playing Minecraft


	5. Chapter 5

It hadn’t taken long for the group to locate a table to sit down at, and before long the group was playing catch-up on what all had happened since they’d been separated. Hiroyuki helped fill in how he’d found Hikaru, and Daichi and Shou replied with their story of waking up together. Shou mentioned something about getting McDonald’s, but Daichi’s face implied there was more to that story than he was saying.

“So what’s our plan of action?” Hiroyuki leant forward on the table, hoping one of his seniors already had a plan. Without the Tri Squad, he had 25% of his normal amount of heads to think with. Not to say he wasn’t smart on his own, but four heads are better than one, right?

“Our best bet is to locate the others, Tregear likely wanted to separate and confuse us.” X hummed from Daichi’s hand. Hikaru had given Daichi his belt back, and the scientist wore it over Katsumi’s jacket. The clashing uniform belt with the dress shirt and red suit was a funny look, but it helped him remember who was actually in that body.

“It’s not going to be as easy to find the others, it’s not like everyone has a phone…” Daichi leant backwards, sighing. “Katsumi’s actual phone has no signal here, so I doubt anyone other than X has the power to change that.”

“If we’re in a hurry, one of us can transform and use our Ultra form as a beacon.” Hikaru casually offered. “A giant like that in the middle of downtown’d stand out like a sore thumb.”

“That’s the last resort, we don’t need to cause chaos if there’s nothing wrong.” Shou shot him down, his arms crossed in a completely un-Isami like way. Hikaru nodded, affirming his point.

Hiroyuki frowned. This still left them without any idea on how to progress, just an emergency plan that _might_ work. “I think we need to consider who’s all missing.” He pulled paper out of his- well, Gai’s- bag and placed it on the table. He neatly wrote the missing member’s names on it, and set it in the middle of the table.

“Gai, Isami and Katsumi are right-” Hikaru started, before stopping himself. “Wait no, their bodies are here, my bad.”

“I guess that means ‘Hikaru’, ‘Shou’, ‘Riku’ and ‘Hiroyuki’ are likely to be with those absent.” Daichi grabbed the pen, writing down the missing bodies.

“I can confirm the Aegis put ‘Hikaru’ and ‘Shou’ together, since Shou ‘Isami’ and Daichi ‘Katsumi’ woke up in the same spot.” X added. “I tried to group people together as best I could, but… It was rough, apologies.”

“Two of the others are together, and it’s likely the remaining two will have found each other as well.” Shou added. “If Hikaru and Hiroyuki were able to find each other easily, I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘Riku’ and ‘Hiroyuki’ were able to do the same.”

Hikaru slowly raised his hand, a sheepish look on his face. “I get we’re all dealing with this but… Anyone else confused by the names?” There were a few nods in the group, others mentioning they were doing their best to keep the swaps straight in their head.

Hiroyuki rooted around the bag he had. Maybe there was something they could use to help with this? Gai seemed like the kind of guy to have a solution to any situation. Like a cat, he always landed on his feet. But for problems.

The others noticed when he started piling things on the table. “Harmonica… bag of bottle caps… ice cream frequent customer stamp card... “ he pulled out at least five empty ramune bottles, Hikaru checking if each one had any liquid left. (he pulled a full one and passed it to him, much to X’s audible protest.) “How much stuff does Gai keep in this thing? It feels endless...”

“It’s bigger on the inside.” Daichi leant into his palm, a frustrated look on his face. “When we were protecting a planet together once, he told me about a time he met with some sort of doctor? And he upgraded his bag or something as thanks?”

“How’s a doctor supposed to make a bag bigger?” Hikaru had finished his drink, and was eyeing the second full bottle Hiroyuki had produced from the endless-feeling bag. “All the doctors I know can’t do that. I think.” There was a chuckle from Shou, him confirming Hiroyuki’s words.

“Alien species that specializes in time and space travel. I asked him what part of the multiverse I could find them in, but Gai doesn’t write down dimensional coords when he wanders.” Daichi complained. “I’d love to study their technology, to see if it has any use for co-existance with Kaiju, but finding a _specific_ planet in a _specific_ dimension without ANY directions is like a finding a needle in a haystack.”

Hiroyuki recognized exasperation when he heard it. “How long have you been trying to find it?”

“Accounting for time I’ve spent scanning dimensions for temporal anomalies while Daichi is asleep, the number of hours we’ve spent-” X was cut off by his host turning the phone towards himself and giving a terrifying death glare. “I’ll. Go back to looking for the others.”

Focusing on the bag, Hiroyuki shoved his head in. What he was looking for had to be in here somewhere, right?

It was definitely not what he expected from the outside. Mini shelving units were set up, items piled in haphazardly with no sense of organization. He could hear Pirika’s annoyance at the mess in the back of his head. Glancing around, he (somehow) quickly found what he was looking for. “Here we go! Nametags!”

A minute later, everyone now bore a sticker on their chest that read ‘Hi! My name is:’ followed by their actual name. Hiroyuki noted to thank Gai for his… interesting collection of items coming in handy as he packed it all up.

“Finding the others aside, it’s getting late in the day.” Daichi glanced up at the sky, a frown on his face. Hiroyuki glanced at a nearby clock, taking note of the time being past seven already. “If we don’t find them soon, there’s a real chance we’ll have to find a place for the night.”

“So the plan is to keep wandering aimlessly?” Shou didn’t sound super pleased, but it’s not like they had much else to go on currently.

“I guess?” Hikaru zipped his coat up, gathering energy to stand up. “We can keep around this area, I saw lots of hotels we could spend the night for cheap.” Hiroyuki was pretty sure he was talking about the many, _many_ love hotels they passed but decided not to bring it up. X would surely buy them a room from a normal hotel, and they’d use his GPS to find it.

“Seconding that, if we stay in busy areas X can keep his sensors out for anyone else who gives off Ultraman readings.” Daichi clipped the phone bound Ultraman back onto his belt, standing up with everyone else.

“Alright then, let’s get going!” Hikaru grinned, and the group set off once again.

* * *

Isami scanned the area REM had deposited the two of them at. It was semi-busy, what looked to be a traveling hero show was currently going on. Not really his thing to do in person, but he’d remembered watching _Kamen Rider_ with Katsu when he was younger. It briefly crossed his mind if this world had the same shows as his own world.

It’d be a funny gag picture to show up with a framed photo of a _slightly_ different version of Katsu’s fave. Maybe the helmet would be off slightly. Or the pose completely wrong. Have it signed and it ends up being all wrong. Isami crossed his fingers and decided to keep an eye out for familiar- _ish_ faces.

“Oi, Isami.” Fuma called him out of his thoughts. “Gai’s gotten distracted.” Isami nearly turned on a dime, hoping the wayward O50 had found Riku.

It was his shock to see a confused Gai taking a picture with a random lady. It was his second shock to see a small line forming behind her, more cameras at the ready.

“Excuse me, sir?” there was a tap on his shoulder that definitely wasn’t Titas swapping his reps. “May I uh… get a photo with you?” The lady roughly his age was blushing way too much for this to feel _not_ akward.

“One- one second, I don’t want to loose my friend-”

“Mr. Hamada, right?” She looked over towards Gai. “Could I ask for a photo with both of you?” Who the hell was ‘Hamada’? Isami nodded slowly, deciding this was the easiest way to stick together (he’d somehow started to draw his own line, which was slightly startling.), he moved towards Gai, hoping he had any clue what was going on.

“Hey, seen the others yet?” Gai struck a vaugely Riku-like pose, and a few camera flashes went off.

Isami _meant_ to reply, but a different lady excitedly interjected. “Oh! Are you looking for Mr. Uji and Mr. Negishi?” Neither of those names were familiar, but he nodded anyway. Were… were their celebrities with their faces in this world? “They’re over by the main event! We could get a group photo!” There was some cheery chatter from the crowd of (mostly female) fans, and before Isami could say anything, the group was politely moving towards an area with chairs.

“Hiroyuki! And m- uh, Riku?” Towering above a group of photographers was Hikaru, Shou next to him. The two happily posed for a selfie, before the crowd cleared itself for Isami and Gai to join.

“Glad to have found you two. Have you seen the others?” Gai nonchalantly leant against the stage, still unsure about what was going on. At least the crowd had helped them reunite quickly?

“No, we saw the TV ad for the Donshine event and _Negishi_ dragged us here.” Shou said, motioning with his head towards Hikaru. There was about four seconds before Isami realized Hikaru was most likely Riku, and they were trying to keep low about their _actual_ identity. “He said there was no way Riku would miss this, and insisted we come.”

Deciding to try and hint them on as well, Isami sat on the stage next to probably-Riku. “Well, you know us. We like to _wander_ into events sometimes.” he laughed, looking over to Gai. “Right?”

“Wandering’s what I do best.” Gai nodded. There was a light of recognition in both Riku and not-Shou’s eyes.

“Hey, I know you guys are… you know.” Isami turned his head to see what looked like stage show staff. “But we’d like to get the show started now, if that’s ok? Don’t want to keep the kids waiting, you know?”

Seeing the opportunity to exit stage left from the fans, Isami motioned for the others to follow him back to where REM had deposited him and Gai. They waved to the crowd of fans, Isami kind of enjoying the feeling of being recognized (even if it wasn’t _his_ actual fame).

“Thank you for waiting everyone!” The MC cheerfully paraded onstage as the group hit the last row of chairs. There were cheers from the children as she began talking excitedly about something or other probably related to the show’s plot.

“Do you two have any money?” Shou crossed his arms, glancing over at Riku. “Riku here’s only eaten a cup noodle, I’d like to get him some-”

“Katsu?” Isami recognized that older-brother-dissapointed voice anywhere. “Katsu, you’re _Shou?_ ”

“...Isami?” There was a moment of disbelief that looked misplaced on Shou’s face. “Isami, you’re ok!” The elder brother leant in for a hug, which quickly morphed into a noogie when Isami tried to escape the embarrassing action.

“Katsu, katsu- come on, let’s go back to Riku’s ship, you’re messing up my hair Katsu-”

“REM’s here?” Riku perked up, grabbing Katsumi’s attention back. Isami nodded, pointing toward Gai’s shadow. “Pega too?” He nodded again, much to Riku’s relief and joy.

“Hey uh. Not to derail this conversation but.” Gai was frowning, staring at the currently-ongoing stage show. “Isn’t that… Zett?”

The group turned back to the event, only to witness a human-sized Zett running around on stage. A human-sized Red King waddled on stage, and the two fought while smoke blew out of a machine on the stage.

They stood watching for a while, mesmerized by what was most-likely-a-costume of their friend fighting a way-too-small, most-likely-a-costume kaiju. “Let’s. Pretend we didn’t see this.” Isami finally broke their silence, trying not to think too deep on the matter himself. He followed Gai’s lead, and they walked back to where they could return to Riku’s spaceship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! sorry for taking last week off, Retail Hell really killed me. BUT luckily my entire region had to close down because of covid, so I've got plenty of time to work/catch up again.  
> My question: would you guys rather an extra chapter next week (maybe on Wednesday?) OR UGS to end the week after UGF2 ends (continue posting at the usual rate)?  
> Anyway the plot for the second half of this week's chapter occurred to me as I was walking home from work the other week, and I couldn't stop laughing at the idea so of COURSE it's going right into my weekly meme fest.  
> Thanks again for reading UGS everyone!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This shoulda gone up last week but uh. I got lazy.  
> well, """"lazy"""". I wrote 10K words for my X AU in the span of 3 days then took a nap.

Of the five people currently contained within this hotel room, Daichi was certain only two of them were _vividly_ aware of what kind of hotel it was. When they’d entered, he’d made direct eye contact with Hiroyuki when X had told the group they’d arrived at the hotel the cyber ultra had booked. Shou had looked indifferent, and Hikaru’s clueless relief to sleep seemed to indicate he had no clue what it was.

Hiroyuki had quickly grabbed some of the items left on the end table and shoved them into his bag, while Daichi himself had scanned for anything else _unexpected_. He’d have to talk to X about what a love hotel was later. While _yes, this was cheaper_ , something about the stripper pole next to the massive bed and the glass-walled bathroom was very… _something_ to the host.

There was a relaxed sigh as Hikaru flopped onto the bed. “I know Tregear’s out there still and all, but being tired just gives him more opportunity to catch us off guard again, right?” He grabbed a heart-shaped pillow and hugged it tightly. Watching his own body lounge so casually felt weird, so Daichi went about browsing his phone for nearby takeout options.

“What are we feeling for food?” He was met with a round of conflicting replies. “One at a time, please.” he was almost positive he didn’t hear anyone say what he was craving. Which was a shame, because X would chastise him for wanting to eat something like Yakisoba.

“Pizza!” Hikaru gave a thumbs up. “Plenty of leftovers for tomorrow!”

“I’m not picky, but can we get some V Choco for after?” Shou had actually _climbed on_ the pole and was currently working out on it. He was vaguely aware of Hiroyuki’s walking out of the bathroom in shock as Shou began rotating around the pole, doing crunches as he spun.

The member of the Quatro squad quickly shook his head, focusing back on the problem at hand. “Isn’t there food available from the kiosk? If we’re in this kind of place, I’m kinda craving fried chicken.”

Daichi stared bullets at him. He didn’t need to point out where they were! If anything, it was a ripe way to get X to-

“What kind of place?” A voice floated out of the phone he was currently ordering on. X’s voice. “Is there something specific about fried chicken and hotels?”

“Oh, now that you mention it, don’t you usually get-”

Daichi cut Hikaru off quickly with a “Chicken for Christmas? It’s close to then, so I doubt we’ll be able to get it for cheap.” Hikaru nodded, content with that answer.

“Pizza sounds good to me, any complaints?” Hiroyuki seemed to realize why Daichi had given him the glare and sat down on the (heart-shaped) sofa behind him. He began rooting through Gai’s bag, tossing out various items as he went. “I might have chocolate in here, let me check.”

“So we’re all agreed on pizza then?” Daichi tapped away at his phone, looking for local places that would deliver.

* * *

“Alright guys, I’ve got food ready to go!” Riku balanced a pile of cup noodles on his arms as he walked out into the living room of Nebula House. He was glad he’d stocked up on food before they’d left on this adventure. REM was good at thinking ahead like that. At most, Riku had only expected to have needed to feed two people (Him and Pega) for maybe three days.

Now there were five people spending the night for the foreseeable future, and he was grateful REM had made him pick up groceries.

“Hold on, Riku.” Katsumi stood up from where he’d been resting, whatever conversation the group had been having put on hold. “When you said you’d get supper ready, I thought you meant something more…”

“More what?” Riku set the first cup in front of Gai, pulling a pair of chopsticks out of his pockets and handing it to him. “Cup noodles are great!”

“Thanks for the meal.” Gai shovelled the food into his mouth. See, he understood how great cup noodles were! You could pour boiling water in, go fight a kaiju and have a nice meal ready when you got back. Perfect food item.

“You can’t just live off cup noodles, _especially_ when you haven’t eaten in a day!” Katsumi was taking his cup noodles, setting them down on the table. Gai happily picked up a second cup, slurping Katsumi’s cup noodle. “I thought you were going to make something hearty, like a family meal. Didn’t your parents teach you how to cook-”

He didn’t even finish the sentence as he remembered who he was talking to. Riku frowned, taking his own cup and sitting on the other side of the room. If Katsumi couldn’t see the perfection that cup noodles were, he’d just eat by himself.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s fine.” It wasn’t fine, but Riku was hungry. He peeled open his cup as Gai grabbed Isami’s cup noodle.

“Hey REM, this place has a kitchen, right?” Isami glanced at the yellow orb hanging from the console. Riku slurped loudly, trying to show he wasn’t listening and didn’t care. He had offered them noodles, and Gai had eaten three of the five he’d made. (Pega had grabbed the last one, and he could hear his friend munching away from his shadow) “What all is in the fridge?”

“I made sure Riku stocked the fridge before we left to fight Tregear.” REM answered, globe flashing as she spoke. “I can give specifics, however, if you already have what you want to cook in mind, I would recommend checking yourself.”

“Big bro Katsu?” Riku slurped louder. He was already almost out of noodles, and his hunger wasn’t close to being sated. The two brothers left the room, leaving Riku alone with his noodles.

* * *

“Alright, I’ve got three large pizzas, two bottles of pop, breadsticks and lava cake here.” Daichi pushed the door open with his back, hands stuffed with food. Just the smell of the pizza was making him drool. The Xio member hadn’t realized how hungry walking all day had made him till just now. “Could someone help me with this?”

“I got it!” Hikaru was already behind him, passing the boxes balanced on top to Hiroyuki before taking the drink bottles himself. Shou shoved the sofa closer to the bed and had already laid a towel from the bathroom out in an attempt to not get the bed greasy. It was no dinner table, but then again Daichi was used to eating at his work desk so he couldn’t really complain.

“This one’s meat lovers.” Hiroyuki quickly turned it to the others, opening his next box to check for the other slices. “Hawaiian here… the last one’s the vegetarian then.”

“Why’s it called Hawaiian pizza, anyway?” Shou pulled a slice of vegetarian, munching from the couch. “What is Hawaii?”

“It’s a tropical island, lots of people like to take summer break there.” Hikaru bit his own slice, hissing about it being hot moments later. “I went there once, it’s a nice place. Sky’s exceptionally blue there.”

“It’s surrounded by the sea for miles, so that might have an effect on that. No worry about light pollution at night, I’d love to stargaze there.” Daichi grabbed two slices of meat-lovers for himself. Hopefully-

“Daichi, the calories in that type of pizza is much higher than the vegetarian variety. It would be healthier to-”

“Come on X, this isn’t even my body.” Plus he was tired, it’d been a long day and he just wanted to eat and sleep at this point. “If anything, you should be criticizing Hikaru right now.”

Hikaru gave him a betrayed look. “I had that matcha green tea drink earlier, let me have Hawaiian pizza now!” Hiroyuki laughed as he set a cup out for himself, pouring whatever fruity carbonated water they’d given him.

“The first step to a balanced diet is getting into the habit of eating healthily!” X lectured. “Daichi and Hikaru, I’m limiting both of your pizza consumption tonight. I want both of you to eat no more than two-” Daichi flipped his phone over, deciding to relieve the two of them of the issue. “Hey! Daichi, I can’t see!”

“Exactly. You don’t need to see how much pizza we eat.” Daichi grinned, munching on a breadstick.

* * *

The growling noise from his stomach almost made Riku want to get a second cup noodle. Almost. He was still pretending to be grumpy at the Minato brothers, so he was re-reading one of the Donshine magazines in an attempt to ignore his hunger.

The smell coming from the kitchen wasn’t helping.

“Yo Riku, do you have any more cup noodles?” Gai was relaxing on the couch, his octopus plushie over his head as if it were a hat. Riku was pretty sure he’d mumbled something about Juggler liking the plush toy, which _over his dead body, that was an important gift_.

“In the kitchen.” He wondered if Gai would grab him one.

“Food’s ready!” Isami paraded out with a stack of plates in hand. “I hope you like hot pot, I was craving it.”

“Hot pot?” Gai sat up, clearly interested. Seconds later, Katsumi came out with a large pot Riku hadn’t even known he had. “Smells good, mind if I grab a plate?”

“I made plenty, go right ahead!” Katsumi set it down on the low table, making sure to center it on the cloth Isami had placed earlier. Sat down, taking a plate for himself. Riku took a deep breath, enjoying the smell. Better than his attempt at a cup noodle party, and it’d probably feed them better too. “You coming, Riku?”

“Huh?” He looked up, not realizing the group was looking at him expectantly.

“We made enough for everyone, including Gai’s endless stomach!” Isami grinned, already picking out food from the pot.

“Oi, Isami. You forgot to say thanks, don’t start eating already-” Katsumi crossed his arms, reprimanding his brother. Riku watched as he jokingly elbowed his brother, who ignored his teasing. “Come on Riku, You’re loosing your chance at meat.” He laughed care-freely.

“Shanks for the mfeal!” Isami mumbled, mouth half full.

“Thanks for the meal.” Gai tipped his head, octopus nearly falling off.

Riku wiped away a tear, eagerly clambering over to the table. “Thanks for the meal!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TEAM GIVE RIKU FOUND FAMILY 2021!!! HE DESERVES IT!!!  
> thank you everyone for the continued support, see you next week!  
> EDIT- was requested for who's in who's body again, so here's a quick reference as a refresher. Writing a bodyswap fic is confusing, never let me do one w/ this big of a swap ever again actually.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late, I was being held at gunpoint to draw cursed ultraman fanart in the time leading up to UGF's airing yesterday and didn't have time to write the second half.  
> 

Even if the siren was different than the one he was used to, the feeling remained in his gut. The sense of unease in the air, screams from outside that snuck their way in no matter how soundproof your hotel room was. The thumps of feet hitting the ground on the floor above them, a knock at the door to wake them.

It was the unmistakable feeling of a Kaiju attack that awoke Shou.

“Five… more minutes…” Hikaru rolled over, slapping Shou in the face. That was the other reason Shou woke up. Hikaru had taken all the blankets in the night.

“I’m not your alarm clock, and neither is Taro.” Shou gently lifted his arm off, sitting up quickly. Over on the couch, Gai - no, it was Hiroyuki - was sitting up, a wide yawn as he stretched. Daichi was crumpled up on the floor in the makeshift futon the group had cobbled together, his Gomora spark doll and XDevisor tucked into bed next to him.

“Daichi, wake up!” X buzzed, only to be turned over for his efforts. “Daichi, there’s a Kaiju!”

“I got it…” Hiroyuki yawned again. He patted his waist, before eyes darting open. “Where’s the-” There was a pause, followed by him patting his own face with confusion. “I’m Gai. Wh-why am I?” He rushed into the bathroom, and there was the sound of the sink running.

“I can go.” Shou was out of bed, grabbing the Victory Lancer out of his coat.

Or he would have if this was _his_ body.

He stared at the RB Gyro he’d produced from Isami’s coat. Ignoring the fact he’d glanced over Isami’s coat as his own, there was a dawning feeling in his gut the longer he stared at the device.

“How do I use this?”

Hiroyuki had exited the bathroom, Orb Ring in hand. “Gai’s… Orb Ring.” An equally panicked confusion overtaking him as he turned it over in his hands. They’d seen each other use their respective transformation item before, but actually _using_ them wasn’t something they really talked about. It wasn’t something they ever thought would be useful.

“Hikaru, wake up!” Shou shook his fellow UPG member, who’d rolled over to his half of the bed. “Hikaru, do you know how to use Isami’s RB Gyro?”

“RB… Gyro…?” Daichi was off the floor now, clipping his belt back over Katsumi’s jacket. There was a rumble to the ground, and he seemed to realize what the issue was. “I can just Unite with X, since-”

“That might be an issue.” X hummed, cutting his partner off. “I’ve got to Unite with ‘Daichi’, things might not work with ‘Katsumi’, even if it’s actually you.”

All three heads in the room turned to Hikaru, who was currently a burrito of blankets. There was a loud snore, followed by him rolling over again.

“Hikaru!”

“Hikaru, wake up!”

“It’s urgent, Hikaru!”

Shou watched as Daichi and Hiroyuki desperately shook Hikaru, Getting only Hikaru’s sleepy mumbles in return. He pulled his arm out of his blankets, lazily slapping Daichi with the effort of a sloth.

“Stand back, I’ve got this.” Shou pushed the two back, realizing his fellow hosts didn’t have experience with Hikaru in the morning. “Hikaru, I know you like to sleep in.” Shou grabbed the blanket, and in one smooth motion rolled Hikaru out of it.

“Mmmh…. Cold..”

“There’s a time to dream, but right now… ” Shou flung the heart-shaped pillow Hikaru had curled around, grabbing his foot. “you gotta take flight, Hikaru!” He dragged him to the floor, a confused mumble tumbling out of him.

It took a few moments before he slid open his eyes, a grumpy look on his face. “I’m awake. What’s-” There was a rumbling thump that shook the room, catching him off guard.

“Hikaru.” Daichi held his phone out to the newly-awoken host. “You’re the only one who can transform right now.”

“Whu..?”

* * *

“Please activate the first Ultra Capsule.”

“Where’s Mr. Tiga?” Gai opened Riku’s capsule holder, individually examining each one. He’d found Mr. Ultraman’s capsule, so he could probably Fusion Up into Spacium Seperion.

“Riku does not have an Ultra Capsule of Ultraman Tiga.” Rem politely informed him. “However, there are additional capsules stored within the Ultra Capsule Holder’s hammerspace storage.”

“Oh! thanks, Rem.” Gai ignored the ground rumbling beneath him. Behind him, Riku and Katsumi were examining Spark Dolls, frantically trying to figure out how they worked. Isami was having a full-blown conversation with the Tri-Squad, shouting something about not understanding their instructions.

Gai lined up the capsules he had neatly along the table under Rem’s glowing orb. Another tremor nearly knocked over the Seven capsule, which he quickly caught and pushed back into place. “Sorry, Mr. Seven.”

“If you are using the Ultraman Capsule, Please activate the Ultraman Belial Capsule to go with it.” Rem’s orb flashed as she spoke.

“Ah, Mr. Zoffy _looks_ like Mr. Ultraman, but he is a different person.” Gai nodded, looking at the capsule closely. Thunder Breaster would be useful, but against Red King? It might be overkill.

“ _Ultlive, GO! EX Red King!_ ”

Gai turned around just in time to see an explosion in the kitchen. Katsumi dropped the Victory Lancer and held his arms up. “I- I’m sorry, I didn’t know Shou’s Lancer could-”

Riku seemed to be having an emotional moment. “The leftovers-!” Gai didn’t blame him. After a pause, his eyes grew wider. “MY DON SHINE CUP SET!” Ok, that one Gai didn’t fully understand, but the food the Minatos had cooked had been good.

_“Ultlive! Kemur Man.”_

“Oh, Katsu, I got it, I got it-” Riku yelled excitedly as his form was enveloped in a bright light. Seconds later, it faded to reveal a Kemur Man in Riku’s place. Everyone stood there, looking at the alien. “Is Ginga supposed to be human-sized? Do I have to do something to become big again?”

“Uh, Riku.” Isami stopped his holding up all three of the Tri Squad’s keys to walk over to the transformed host. “That’s. I don’t think you transformed into Ginga.”

Gai went back to trying to figure out a combination he could fuse with Riku’s capsules as the said person started yelling loudly. Isami and Katsumi seemed to have that under control, and they still had a Kaiju to deal with. “Mr. Seven…” He held up the capsule. “And Mr. Zero… “

“Ultra Seven can combo with Ultraman Leo. Ultraman Zero can combo with Father of Ultra.” Rem interjected.

“But not together?” Gai held them up to the orb, eyebrow raised. “Can Riku not fuse Emerium Slugger?”

“Correct. Riku does not have a form called Emerium Slugger.”

“Mr. Ginga and Mr. X, Lightning Attacker?”

“Negative, Zero has those capsules.”

“Mr. Leo and Mr. Zero, Leo Zero Knuckle?”

“Negative.”

“Fullmoon Xana-”

“Gai Kurenai, Please use the Ultraman… ’ _Zoffy’_ Capsule with the Ultraman Belial Capsule.” Rem politely cut him off. “This is a valid combination for Riku’s Fusion Riser.”

“What do I do after that?” Gai placed the capsule up against the circular glass dome of the Riser. He couldn’t really… scan it like his Orb Ring.

Rem sighed. “Please load the capsules into the Loading Knuckle.”

_“Buddy… Go?”_

Behind Gai, Isami vanished from the room, much to Katsumi and Riku’s relief and excitement. Gai looked at the Riser in his hand. “Loading Knuckle?”

“Please look on the left side of your hip.” Rem kindly informed him. “The opposite side of the Capsule Holder.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What would happen first? Gai realizing Rem is getting progressively frustrated at him, or Rem using a U-tom to murder Gai?  
> most of the time writing this was spent comparing Geed and Orb's possible fusions, and what Gai could fuse from Riku's capsules. I figure since Gai's been around the Galaxy, he has more fusion cards than Riku does capsules, so Gai can fuse all of his game forms, but Riku only has his TV show capsules. (also bc Geed's game-exclusive forms includes capsules like Orb Spacium Zeperion. And that would be wild to try and write lol)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for being a few days late, and this chapter feels slightly uneventful to me, but I guess that's what happens when half the chapter is a fight scene. I'm working hard to get Chapter 9 done for this Saturday, and 10 will be as quickly as I can after that.

Uniting with X felt different than fighting alongside Ginga. There was a comfort to Ginga’s knowing presence, even if he rarely spoke. Ginga was more of the speaking through actions than speaking through words kind of person.

X was a stark difference to that.

Immediately X was already pointing out multiple points of information in a way that completely overwhelmed the still sleepy Hikaru. “Nearest civilian is 300 meters away, evacuation is proceeding slower than expected. Points of note nearby include a train station 500m to our left, the Tokyo Bay 100m behind us, and - “ A few windows popped up in his vision. “The following locations have OSHA violations as they left their construction gear running-”

“X, I’m not sure if that’s important right now!” Hikaru dropped them into a defensive stance, slowly pacing towards Red King. He was used to fighting in the countryside, this many buildings made him nervous about accidental destruction.

“I’ve seen Daichi fall off the ladder while trying to fix things in the spark doll habitat, it’s always the time for workplace safety!” The additional views shifted towards his feet, X giving pointers on more structurally sound parts of the road to step on. Ok, this he didn’t mind.

Red King roared, smashing a nearby building as it swung its arms. Road destruction aside, Hikaru charged forward. The two of them delivering a rapid-fire of punches to Red King’s chest before X finished the combo with an energized chop.

“This guy’s tough!” Hikaru grinned as the two cartwheeled backward out of range of Red King’s punching retaliation.

“I hate to say it, But I feel I’m not as strong as usual.” X threw up a Barrier Wall to block a stream of explosive rocks fired from Red King’s mouth. Hikaru could feel X struggling to match his moves, like when he’d trained with Shou to use Ginga Victory. The feeling of early on, when he and Shou weren’t fully in sync yet. But with X.

“I understand, sort of.” Hikaru was trying to figure out a plan of attack while X held up the defensive. Once Red King’s stream of boulders ran out, maybe they could use Ginga Thunderbolt- wait no, X couldn’t do that. Maybe if X materialized the Ginga Spark Lanc- no, that was Ginga’s too. X… Slash? Was that an attack he could do?

Hikaru was lost in his thoughts; he didn’t notice X falter, the barrier dissolving. He felt a rock whiz by X’s head, followed by time slowing down as he noticed multiple more rocketing towards his everything. This was the opposite of a good thing, Hikaru realized he and X were falling backward, with no way to defend themselves from the oncoming pain.

_Ruler of the wind, Fuma!_

A blue streak blurred into his vision, and suddenly Fuma was between X and Red King, slicing the rocks to pieces with ninja stars. “Oi, X! Looks like I arrived just in time!” The blue Ultra grinned. Red King realized he couldn’t out-fire Fuma, and swung its arms around in a tantrum.

“Thanks, it’s appreciated.” X picked himself off the ground, watching Red King as it accomplished nothing.

“It’s good to see you, Fuma.” Hikaru smiled, glad they’d managed to track down at least one other person.

“Hikaru! Oh man, Riku’ll be happy we found you.” Isami’s voice rang, confirming who was currently with Fuma. “He transformed into a Kemur Man and can’t-”

“We can talk after we deal with Red King!” X moved to stand next to Fuma, which was more crowded than Hikaru would have liked. Still, his current partner had a good point, the Kaiju in question was currently wrecking a building _very_ thoroughly, and that just wouldn’t stand.

“Brosami, let’s do this!” Fuma sped off, dipping and dodging between buildings with a speed that made Hikaru envious. Why did it feel like every host but him regularly fought in large cities?

Regardless, X was throwing Xanadium shots to cover Fuma’s approach, covering Hikaru’s uncertainty about approaching. The blue Ultra teleported behind Red King, and with a flash of light, Titas took his place with a strong uppercut.

Red King fell backward, the train rail behind it shattering as the kaiju smashed to the ground. “Nice tag out, Isami.” Titas gave a flexing pose, before grabbing Red King’s tail. “Ultra Muscle Hurricane!”

Titas spun around, swinging Red King well above the buildings with a mighty grunt. He launched the Kaiju into the air, before tagging out with Taiga.

“Xanadium Beam!”

“Stirum Blaster!”

“ _Ultraman Geed: Primitive!_ ”

Just as Red king exploded, Hikaru turned to see Geed standing behind them, arms hunched closely. It was… close to Riku’s regular pose, but off enough that something felt wrong. “I embrace the darkness so I can become the light!” Geed seemed to pause a moment, a quiet “This isn’t Thunder Breaster.” slipping out of him.

“Oh, Gai! It’s good to see you.” X immediately recognized his friend, and gave a small wave.

“Mr. X!” Geed walked over, waving to Taiga as well. “Glad to see you and Daichi are ok. How’ve you been? We’re-” X’s timer started flashing, much to Gai’s shock.

“Let’s continue this conversation in person.” X glanced over the buildings, trying to spot the hotel everyone else was currently resting in. “Daichi is just over… there?”

Hikaru frowned, realizing X was pointing to the wrong hotel. “Weren’t we in the one with the big heart sign?”

X crossed his arms, and a small google search window opened up in his cyberspace. “I could have sworn the hotel’s name was ‘Love Hotel’.” He began scrolling through the search results. “I figured with a name like that, everyone loves it. A sign of a good hotel.”

“Love hotel?” Gai joined the confusion. “I’ve stayed in a few of hotels from that chain. Nice place.”

“EGIS had a job to protect one of those before!” Taiga nodded. “Hiroyuki wouldn’t go inside though. I think the person that hired them wanted safety with their friend?”

“How about we meet somewhere outside the hotel?” Isami burst in, slightly flustered. “We’re in Riku’s space ship, so how about you meet us at uh… Shibuya Square?”

“Ah yeah, I suppose since everyone evacuated, it’ll be easy to find each other there.” Hikaru nodded. “Should we fly off now, since Red King’s gone?” Hikaru ignored the helicopter flying toward them at full tilt. Probably someone from the local defence team doing damage assessment.

“Hey REM, how do I untransform?” Gai turned to the side, talking to himself. “Oh, Riku has to wait for his timer to wear off every time?”

“I’ve seen Riku untransform early, That can’t be right.” Isami hummed with uncertainty.

“Excuse me! Ultraman!” A small voice yelled from the (now flying between the three of them) helicopter yelled. “Could I get an interview?”

Hikaru frowned. He’d never been asked that before. Was that something people wanted to do?

X clearly jumped at the opportunity, nodding. “Hello! It’s a pleasure to meet everyone. My name is Ultraman X.”

Taiga flashed a peace sign, giving a grin. “Ultraman Taiga, Taro’s son! Ask me anything!” Gai didn’t respond, clearly talking with REM still about how to untransform.

“Are the other New Generation Heroes also here?” the man yelled, before holding his microphone out as far as possible. They looked at each other for a moment, then nodded in sync. “So Ultraman is real?”

“Ultraman is… real…?” X looked at Taiga, who shrugged.

“I’m pretty sure I’m real.” Taiga tilted his head to the side. “Not sure I understand the question?”

Suddenly, the XDevisor vibrated, a phone call incoming. “X, what are you doing?” Daichi’s voice chastised him over the line.

“I didn’t want to be rude, he flew all the way over here to interview us.” X replied, arm drifting up to his headphones. He quickly answered another question to the interviewer, something about

“Katsu wouldn’t let me to an AMA in Ayaka, so I’ll do one here instead!” Isami grinned, clearly enjoying the helicopter man’s questions. “Ultraman’s favourite kind of rice ball is okaka and cheese, and the best clothes are the Minato collection from Quattro-”

Chaos quickly descended as all three members of the Tri Squad tried to talk at once. X clearly wanted to get more in, but as he was running out of time, Hikaru found him taking off into the sky as Geed faded from view as Gai figured out how to untransform.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think about Isami's attempt to hold 'I'm Ultraman AMA' and X's interview during 24hrs inside Xio every single day. let them answer questions.  
> Anywho I've joked about this in prior chapters, but I think it'd be funny if the new gen heroes traveled to a universe where their lives were a long-running TV show (like our universe!) How would they confront the idea of "my life... is a _TV SHOW_?!" I'm not going to touch on it much here since we've got Tregear to track down and make pay in the next two chapters, but maybe a future crossover.  
> Thanks one again for following Ultra Galaxy Scramble, see you Saturday!


	9. Chapter 9

Katsumi was eternally thankful Riku hadn't been _too_ upset about him launching an energy blast into the kitchen and blowing it up. REM seemed decently ok with it, but based on how long the on-board AI had spent trying to get Gai to transform, maybe it was best he didn't broach the topic for now.

Regardless, he was halfway through trying to help Riku untransform when Gai and Isami came back, four more bodies in tow. "We're back!" Isami strolled over to Riku, giving him a poke in the Kemurian eye. "Still a Zettonian?"

"Hey, Kemur Man is an important friend!" Daichi walked over, taking the Ginga Spark and shaking it. “All of the Kaiju I fight alongside are important allies!” Katsumi squinted, realizing there was a nametag on Daichi’s chest.

“H...Hikaru?” It took him a moment to realize it was in fact, _not_ Daichi currently showing Riku how the Ginga Spark worked. Although the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

“Like this.” He handed back the device to Riku, and moments later Riku was back to normal. As normal as ‘still in Hikaru’s body’ was. “There we go! ...Does my chin really look like that?”

“If everyone would kindly place their coats by my table, please.” REM spoke up, causing all eight people to turn towards the orb. “I have an idea to reduce confusion on who is currently in whose body.”

Katsumi complied, helping Isami get his EGIS sweater off despite the younger brother complaining he had it under control. He watched as his own body removed Daichi’s belt, gently placing the XDevisor on a nearby table before re-clipping it around himself. Ok, that was probably Daichi? It was getting hard to keep track of everyone in his head.

After a pile of various coats had amassed, REM spoke again. “Everyone please take the coat you _normally_ wear, and address everyone according to the coat they are wearing.”

“Oh, that’s really smart, REM!” Riku beamed, quickly pulling out his own jean jacket. Isami grabbed his blue jacket and then tossed Katsumi his red blazer. There was a collective teamwork, and everyone found themselves with the correct jackets on.

“We’re all together again then, right?” Hikaru’s UPG coat hung baggily on Daichi, unzipped in his usual casualty that didn’t fit Daichi at all. Next to him stood Isami, the other UPG jacket baggy differently on his younger brother’s body. What was normally close to bursting on Shou left Isami with more than enough space for his arms, much to Shou’s dismay.

“There’s eight bodies here, I think so.” Daichi’s belt clipped around Katsumi’s body looked a lot less out of place with the XIO jacket instead of his blazer. It also confirmed his earlier guess, the only person of the other group he’d been able to predict.

“Which pocket did you put my Orbnica in?” Riku was leaning against the wall, his floppy hat tilted low. It didn’t hide him checking every pocket for Gai’s signature harmonica with a desperation that didn’t escape Katsumi’s notice.

Hikaru sat on the couch, Riku’s octopus plush clutched in his arms. “Does anyone have any leads on Tregear? Or how to fix this?” His legs (which jutted out impossibly far thanks to Hikaru’s height) bumped against the low table nearby, knocking a clock off the edge. Pega’s hand shot out of his shadow and caught it before it could smash to the floor. “Oh, thanks Pega.”

“REM and I are currently tracking his whereabouts.” X hummed, the ultra popping up on a screen behind Daichi. He paced back and forth, holding multiple tablets made of light. “I think I have a lead, REM, could you scan area T-9C?”

“I am unaware of XIO’s specifications of space. What are the coordinates in Space Garrison terms?” A second holographic screen popped up, and a map of space around earth appeared.

“Wait, if we use my Vibe Spa, it might help track him down faster.” Isami rushed over to REM’s pedestal, pulling a tablet out of his coat’s pocket. “It’s still set to detect his vibes, if you hook this data up to your longer range, you’ll zero in on him in no time!”

“Nice! That’s my O-50 bro!” A third screen appeared behind Isami, the Fuma flashing a peace sign before Titas and Taiga piled on top.

“Excellent job, Isami.” Titas nodded. “The sooner we can find and stop Tregear, the better.”

Isami grinned, nearly bumping the large crown REM had made him wear. “So why do I have to wear this thing so you guys can see the Tri-Squad, but Daichi doesn’t have to for X?”

“The Tri-Squad requires the visualizer helmet to appear on my screen, as they are hosting you.” REM explained, an upload bar appearing on her map screen. “X can just connect the XDevisor to my system via Bluetooth.”

“It’s good to see you three, are you keeping Isami in line?” Gai tried to tap the screen, finger phasing through the hologram. The EGIS coat hung over his shoulders casually.

“Isami’s a nice host, but the Quattro Squad is where it’s at.” Taiga leant backwards, accidentally pushing Fuma off-screen. “Right, guys?”

The proceeding bickering distracted not only the Tri Squad, but Isami and Hiroyuki as well. Katsumi stretched, a small _rip_ noise coming from behind him as he remembered Shou _was_ in fact, quite muscular. Almost too muscular for his dressy red coat.

“While X and REM are looking, we should all prepare for the upcoming fight.” Shou looked at Katsumi, pulling out his Victory Lancer. “I guess you could call this training, of a sort-”

“Katsu, you think we can dig out the leftovers from the kitchen for breakfast?” Riku bounced up, knocking a few other things off the table with his knees. Pega swiftly caught them, holding the table sturdy while eyeing his friend. “We probably have enough to feed everyone, right?”

“I guess I do owe it to you, since I destroyed the kitchen by accident.” Learning how to the Victory Lancer was important, but so was not charging into likely another of Tregear’s plots on an empty stomach.

“X and I shall notify you when we locate Tregear, if everyone would like to take the time to eat.” REM said, screen filled with many bars that Katsumi did not understand His closest guess was Isami’s data on the Vibe Spa, but with space archeology, the elder Minato was out of his league.

“Alright, let’s see if last night’s hot pot survived that explosion.” Katsumi hoped Riku had enough of his Don Shine cups for everyone. If they had survived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the coat swapping was inspired by the TAMASHII NATIONS stage event they did a few years ago to show of S.H.FIGUARTS Ultraman X before it was released. Hikaru and Daichi's actors were both there and swapped coats almost immediately.  
>   
> (coat swap takes place around 3:25)  
> https://youtu.be/vov1SGggU0w  
> (this is the same video Daichi's actor takes a selfie with X (he has an X phone case).)  
> (I think about this video a lot.)
> 
> Anyway a small breather before next week's finale, and also a refresher on who's currently where in text form, since even as the writer I'm still constantly referencing my "who's in whose body" sheet.  
> Thanks once again for following UGS, see you next week for one last scramble


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry I'm late! this ended up being longer than expected, although I guess considering this is the finale, it makes sense.

Daichi looked at the set of Crystals in front of him. Ok, Katsumi and Isami’s instructions seemed decently simple, except for the part where they weren’t. He just had to select one, put it in the Gyro in the appropriate position, and then pull to activate. He looked at the crystals in Katsumi’s holder. Zero, Seven, Belial… X? When had they gotten X’s crystal?

“Isami said we need Type Change Crystals first, right?” next to him in the shining white space, Shou opened Isami’s holder. He looked at the holder before pulling one out and handing it to Daichi. “Use this one.”

Turning the small blue crystal over in his hand, he watched as Shou pulled out an amber crystal with a smile. “Isn’t Isami usually blue?” Daichi asked, confused by his temporary combat partner’s choice. “Wouldn’t it be easier to go with their default forms, since we’re unfamiliar with their powers?”

“This one has Victory on it, How different can it be?” Shou set the crystal in his gyro, clearly determined to use it.

Daichi looked at his own, noticing it contained an image of Ginga on it. He went to ask why only to watch as Shou’s form disappeared from their subspace as he transformed into Blu. “Ginga crystal it is, I guess.”

* * *

“Ok, so my mistake last time was having the Lancer in gun mode.” Katsumi was a lot more confident this time. Probably because they were both 1 - outside this time and 2 - had instructions on how to transform into Victory this time.

Riku next to him held the Ginga spark close, a mark glowing on his hand. “I guess Ginga’s ready to go this time, I’ve got this hero’s mark thing now.” he held up his spark to the lancer. “Hopefully I can live up to being as good a tag-team as Isami?”

“Hey, REM said you had Zero helping you out on your Earth. I don’t think any of us can live up to Zero as a backup.” Katsumi laughed.

“He was less of backup and more of a spotlight stealer.” Riku chuckled back. “Alright, let’s do this! You go, I go, let’s go Ginga!”

“Enshrined by Victory! Ultlive Go!”

* * *

“Combination combination combination…” Hiroyuki shuffled through Gai’s deck of cards, trying to find faces he recognized. All of the cards had some sort of curly font on the front, but it wasn’t something he was able to read. Maybe Titas would be able to, but Hiroyuki wasn’t particularly a linguist, especially for non-earth languages.

Gai had shown him how to scan cards and told him he’d need to pick a combo of two to make a fusion pair. The order didn’t seem to matter based on what he’d said, probably? Hiroyuki had asked, and Gai had simply replied with “I scanned Mr. Zoffy then Mr. Belial once, but Mr. Belial then Mr. Zoffy another time. I guess the Oracle isn’t picky about order.” He’d then gone back to talking to REM about Riku’s valid combos.

Gai had neglected to tell him any of his combos.

So he was going solely off faces and sheer dumb luck.

For Ultramen Hiroyuki could recognize the faces of, only four were in his pile. Ginga, Victory, X, Zero, and Belial. The ‘sort of familiar’ pile was Taro and Mebius. Taiga had talked about them once, and these descriptions _sort of_ matched the one Taiga had given? He trusted the Belial card about as much as he trusted Tregear, and set it aside only if he couldn’t find a combination quickly. It’d be easier to figure out who ‘Zoffy’ was in a pinch than to find a combo with people he recognized.

“ _Ultraman Ginga_.” Hiroyuki scanned the first card on his pile. The world around him dissolved into a galaxy as the card dissolved into stardust. It reformed in the shape of Ginga, and the ring flashed to indicate it was ready for his second card. Hiroyuki ignored the fact that he was now in a skintight black suit.

“ _Ultraman Victory._ ” A second Ultra appeared on his other side. There was a brief moment of excitement that he’d gotten one first try before they both dissolved back into cards. Alright, time to try someone else with Ginga. “ _Ultraman Ginga._ ”

“Victory didn’t work… Let’s see here…” Hikaru thumbed through the Fusion Cards like he was a public schooler trading _Kamen Rider_ cards with his friends. Was he supposed to match them based on certain traits? Was it a home planet thing, and he needed another from… where was Ginga from again? Or would matching another red Ultra give him a valid combo?

“ _Ultraman Mebius._ ” The stardust formed into the Ultra in question, and Hiroyuki held his breath. The ring flashed again.

“What was I supposed to say again…?” Hiroyuki turned the Orb Ring around in his hands. Gai had said something about saying something, doing the respective Ultra’s motions, then raising it, right? “Let’s get fired up, my friends?” He paused for a moment. “Fusion go?”

“ _Fusion up!_ ” Ok, close enough. “ _Ultraman Orb: Mebium Especially!_ ”

* * *

“Hikaru, do you have any preference in weapon?” Hikaru and X floated in the upper atmosphere, waiting for the others to arrive. Rosso, Blu, Ginga, and Victory floated nearby, with Nebula House floating in the middle. “Ginga has both a saber and a spear, correct?”

“You and Daichi have multiple weapons too, right?” Hikaru replied casually. Ginga could use quite a few techniques between his normal form and Ginga Strium, but none of them were similar to anything X had, as far as the UPG member knew. “Those big, metal claws the Gomora armor seems useful, but not something I’ve got experience fighting with.”

“Would you like a spear to fight with?” X offered. “I’ve used Ultraman Max’s cyber card to load a Cyber Max Galaxy, And I should still have Ginga’s card in my database.”

“Will you be ok, using a spear?” Swords and lances were two completely different beasts to use.

“I trained with the garrison on how to use many kinds of weapons.” X beamed proudly. “And if I can adapt to Daichi throwing MonsArmor at me, I’m sure Ginga’s Lance can’t be too hard to use.”

“Alright, let’s go X!”

* * *

“You can’t keep picking Fuma, let me take center stage this time!” Taiga’s projection floated in front of him, hands on his hips like Katsu would do sometimes when he chewed Isami out.

“O-50 bros, let’s go!” Fuma floated by casually, giving a cheeky laugh at Taiga’s petty anger.

“Taiga, let’s not doubt Isami’s plan of action. It worked well before, so I’m sure he has an idea if he’s choosing Fuma to go first.” Titas nodded sagely. “Although if your plan allows, I would appreciate a bit more time to flex my muscles.”

Isami looked over at REM’s table, extremely aware of the AI’s growing annoyance at getting Gai to transform back into Geed. Something about Gai being upset that REM had mixed up Zoffy and Ultraman? A screen had appeared with sets of capsules, multiple arrows were pointing at the screen.

“I figure Fuma’s fast enough to get us there quickly.” Isami left out that he felt a certain camaraderie towards someone else with O-50 powers. Even if he hadn’t been there himself, Blu had gotten his powers there and passed them on to him. So he kind of owed that weird light ring thanks?

Then again Fuma did insult it a lot. Almost as much as Gai talked nostalgically about it. Isami had mixed feelings on the topic.

“Well put, Isami!” Fuma gave a tiny pat to his shoulder, nodding with approval.

“Alright, Colour me with your friendship! Buddy go!”

* * *

“Hey Shou, does Victory have any weapons?” Riku looked over to watch as Katsumi tapped the Victorian on the shoulder. “Like, a Halo or a set of sluggers?”

“Ah, scan Shepardon’s spark doll or Hikari’s spark doll.” Shou nodded. “That summons the Shepardon Saber and Knight Timbre respectively.”

“Thanks.” Katsumi paused for a moment, and a large crystalline sword appeared in a blue glow. Katsumi turned it around in his hands for a moment, giving it a quick swing to test it. “Longer than I’m used to, but the handguard is nice.”

“You can use the Ginga Spark as a combat knife if that helps you Riku.” Hikaru waved, the spear in X’s hands feeling about as strange as Riku felt. “It’s not quite the Geed Claw, but if you need a weapon in a pinch, it’s there.”

“I’ll be sure to-”

“ _Knight powers, Activated!_ ”

Katsumi was now dual-wielding both swords, the Shepardon Saber in a reverse grip like he normally held his R/B Slugger. There was both a confused and disapproving hum from Shou, who got a knock on the shoulder from Daichi in return.

Further arguments on the use and misuse of each other’s gear were interrupted as Gai finally emerged from Nebula House. He did his usual pose, which looked… strange coming from Riku’s body. “Acro Smasher this time?”

“REM insisted on using the combo, something about we need to get there as soon as possible before she malfunctions and needs to use the U-Toms to kill… She didn’t specify, but I’m assuming Tregear.” Gai hummed nonchalantly. “That’d be bad, REM defeating him before he can swap us back.”

Riku took a moment to reflect on how close REM was to murdering Gai.

“REM’s triangulation puts Tregear on the far side of Pluto.” X pointed away from Earth, motioning for the others to follow. “I’ll be the group’s GPS so REM can hang back and avoid being in direct danger from whatever Tregear has waiting for us.”

“Let’s go, everyone!” Hikaru cheered, before taking off in the direction of Tregear.

* * *

“We’ve got you now, Tregear!”

“It’s about time you lot finally tracked me dow-” Tregear turned to face the group and took a step back in shock. “What’s all this now?”

Standing in the middle of the group was X, who was clearly trying to act as the group’s leader (and had stolen Ginga’s lance. Was that how they determined the leader? A _Lance_?). For some reason, Victory was wielding both of his swords, and at least half of the group was now _blue_. Ironically, the Ultra named Blu was _not_ blue and was instead brown. Orb was trying to cosplay Ginga apparently, while Fuma was currently the active member of the Tri-Squad, instead of Taiga. The fact that the shortest Ultra in the group was trying to pose as the leader was only made more ridiculous by two of the taller ones standing on either side of him.

Overall, the group was a mess.

“Change us back, Tregear!” X’s second voice yelled.

Tregear threw his head back, laughing. “Change back what?” He cracked his head to the side. He had no clue what they were talking about, but the group’s frustration was delicious. “I think you lot look delightfully disastrous like this.”

The group clearly did not like that, as they quickly surrounded the dark ultra, with X and Blu charging forward first. Tregear ducked under X’s lance, sidestepping Blu’s punches before grabbing the pole of the lance and flipping the attached Ultra off to the side with a twist of his arm. Blu was just as easy to throw off, as he was distracted by X being launched backward.

Geed came flying in, a kick to the face causing Tregear to fall back into the nearby asteroid belt. He rubbed his cheek, annoyed he’d allowed them to sneak up on him like that. He launched his Trera Cheir Phos at the genetic Ultra, who was unable to dodge his electric rays.

“Tregear!” Victory pointed one of his swords at him. He took a stance that looked more familiar for Rosso’s style of swordsmanship. Taiga stood next to him, having tagged out for Fuma. “We won’t let you get away with this!”

“Isami says he won’t forgive you!” Taiga nodded, charging alongside Victory.

“Glad to hear Hiroyuki’s doing well as always.” Tregear chuckled, playfully jumping backward from Victory’s slashes. He was aware of Orb behind him and gave a sweeping circular kick to knock him off his feet. There was a grunt as he hit the ground, and the crystalline swords he’d conjured shattered to the ground around him.

“X, Hikaru, you guys ok?”

“We’re fine, you take the lead!”

A beam hit near Tregear’s feet, much to his annoyance. “While it’s fun to see you all in pain like this, I think it’s time I take my leave now.” There were multiple angry yells as Tregear teleported himself away from whatever mess that group was mad about. “I think you all have quite a bit of misplaced anger at me. While it’s great to see you all suffer, I have nothing to do with whatever you’re mad about.” he let his voice echo over the giant asteroid they’d been fighting on as he flew further away. “See you!” he teased.

* * *

“Tregear has disappeared off my radar completely.” REM informed the group, Nebula House floating silently between the group. “It appears for the foreseeable future, everyone is stuck like this.”

“Well, that’s an issue.” Gai frowned. Riku didn’t have the same galaxy wandering powers he was used to having… Something about being a couch-surfing sunset wanderer sounded less appealing when he had a home that did the wandering part for him.

“Yes, it is quite unfortunate.” REM replied.

“Tregear said this wasn’t his doing…” X mused, hand on his headphone in thought. “Is there someone else behind this scramble?”

“It can’t be my dad, since he’s not really…” Riku trailed off. Gai briefly wondered if this was Juggler messing around with him again. Then he remembered he was off being the captain of some defense team somewhere right now. STOREHOUSE, was it?

“Oi, here you guys are!”

A wormhole opened up, and Zero came flying in with his Aegis. He pulled to a stop next to the group, storing the Aegis back into his bracelet. “Oh, Zero! It’s good to see you.” Gai greeted the heroic Ultra with a wave.

“..Gai?” Zero paused for a moment, taken aback. “Why… why are you Geed?”

“Oh yeah, we were just fighting Tregear.” He responded. “What brings you out to this neck of the galaxy?”

The blue-and-red ultra glanced to the others for a moment, taking note of everyone gathered. “I was just uh. Looking for Rosso and Blu.” Another glance at the group. “I was helping Grigio with her training and she had a message she wanted to send to her brothers.”

“What’d Asahi have to tell us?” Katsumi took a step forward. Isami flew over to his brother, also interested in his younger sister’s message.

“Taiga and Victory-?” Zero stopped. “Did… did something happen that I'm missing out on here?”

“We just lost Tregear’s trail, but other than that, not much-” Gai was cut off by everyone else talking at once. He shrugged. Maybe the others felt differently about recent events.

Zero raised his hands, overwhelmed by the group. “Hold on, hold on, hold on. One at a time or this’ll take at least 20,000 years.” Zero quieted the others, crossing his arms. “Which one of you is Hikaru?”

X took a step forward, holding his hand to his chest. “Hikaru’s with me currently.”

“What in the name of Noa is going on?”

“We woke up in each other’s bodies. There was the assumption Tregear did it, but he didn’t seem to know anything about it.” Hikaru sighed. “I’m gonna go home and get suplexed out of my own sleeping tent by Gouki…”

Gai hummed in thought. Naomi would probably not welcome him as a teenage couch surfer in Riku’s body. A few others mumbled to themselves about other friends and loved ones having trouble recognizing them with their new faces.

“Ah man, Dad’s gonna make me re-organize the store with my new strength…”

“That’s not so bad Katsu. Titas won’t help me cheat on my upcoming exam. What’s the point of having three invisible friends if they won’t look at my neighbor’s answers when I’m stuck?”

“Hikaru’s got my phone with my research notes on Birdon, which I need for work… But I can’t leave him unable to transform, since X is in there too…”

“Isami isn’t exactly Victorian, I’m not going to be able to use my crystal to get anywhere once I get home…”

“Kana’s gonna try to hire me as a new employee… She’ll give me the new hire pay rate again, I can see it now…”

“I don’t mind being tall now.” Riku grinned. “I can finally put up posters higher on the walls, it’ll be-”

“Riku.” REM interjected politely. “It would be unwise for you to remain in Hikaru’s body.”

“I- uh. I should get back my own face again. So I can uuh…. Work at the Galaxy Market again.”

Zero nodded his head, sympathizing with everyone. “I might be able to fix this with Shining.” A group chorus of ‘You can?’ filled the air, with the others in varying levels of disbelief and urgency. “Shining’s pretty powerful, let me see what I can do.” With a sparkling flash, Zero’s body changed to a glittering gold and silver. He held his palm skyward, a golden orb floating out of his hand. “ _Shining Star Drive!_ ”

* * *

“Yo Shou, you going to finish that drink?”

The Victorian looked up, seeing Gai motion to the ramune bottle in front of him. “Nah, it’s yours.”

Katsumi and Isami had gone home with Zero, Grigio’s message being something along the lines of their parents missed them. Seeing as they’d taken longer than expected on this mission to track down Tregear, he wasn’t surprised. Shou was happy his Victorium crystal had the power to send messages back home, so he could tell Shepardon he was ok.

“Zero’s got his friends looking for Tregear now too, right?” Hiroyuki sat nearby, nodding his head as presumably, the Tri-Squad spoke with him.

“Yeah, he said the Ultra Brothers will summon us when they locate him.” X buzzed from the table. “They have better resources for locating him than we do.”

“Till then, we’re free to return to our normal lives.” Gai took a sip from the bottle he’d taken from Shou. “Which, speaking of-” He stood up, coat swooshing behind him like a cape as he walked over to the exit of Nebula House. “I’m off, see ya around.” He tipped his hat, and REM transported him out of the ship.

Which left Hikaru, Daichi, Hiroyuki Riku, and himself.

“How are you doing X? Ready to get Hikaru and Shou home?” Daichi stretched, yawning.

“I’m rested enough for at least one dimension hop, maybe two,” X replied. “I don’t want to keep everyone waiting, so maybe we can do some more searching for that person who specialized Gai’s bag between hops?”

Daichi laughed. “Yeah, my interest has been renewed, might as well try to find that doctor again.”

“We’re heading out then?” Hikaru wandered in from the kitchen, a cup noodle in his hand.

“It would be easier for us to return Hiroyuki to his home dimension, as it is closer to Riku’s than yours.” REM’s orb flashed. “If you’d like, that is.”

“I won’t complain about a free ride through dimensional space.” Hiroyuki had laid down on Riku’s couch, octopus plushie being used as a pillow. “I could go for a nice nap anyway.”

“Shall we head out then?” Daichi stood, clipping X back on his belt.

“Safe travels!” Riku waved as they headed toward the door. “See you when they locate Tregear again!”

“Likewise,” Shou replied, prepping his Victory Lancer.

“Thanks for the rest stop, REM.” X hummed.

“Safe flight home, I’ll let you know if we find that HD Donshine Blu-ray set universe again.” Daichi waved.

“If you ever need help… EGIS is always ready…” There was a sleepy reply from Hiroyuki.

“See you later, friends!” Hikaru beamed as the group transformed to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly still surprised at myself for pretty much keeping up the entire time, only dropping the ball and not updating two weeks out of ten. (and even then, managing to end only a week behind UGF TAC thanks to that week i posted two chapters) It's an impressive feat to me, being able to beat out my (very bad lately) executive dysfunction on a weekly basis, even for a small silly things like this.  
> Either way, thank you everyone for all the kudos, comments and DMs regarding this fanfic, It really warms my heart to know everyone was enjoying my weekly shitpost. nearly 700 hits as of posting this and it's flooring me how many people have at least clicked on this silly mess. As I've said to friends, Tsupro may give us serious cool extended lore in UGF, but I feel UGS is me giving everyone the shitpost lore.  
> On a more serious note, plan on taking a break from writing for the foreseeable future. A mix of having to do weekly posting and mental health issues due to uh. Reasons. I'll be stepping back from Toku fanfic for a while. I might return eventually, but until I'm out of my funk, I'll probably only share my works privately.  
> I hope everyone stays safe, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for following Ultra Galaxy Scramble.  
> -Taya "ComicalCarnival"
> 
> (Here's the image I photoshopped myself as reference for writing this chapter, by the way.) (yes I messed up and didn't give Victory his Knight form, forgive me.)  
>   
> (X is the shortest new gen hero, at 45 M tall. local Ultramanlet is the leader for a day)

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this fic arose from this interview when the Taiga movie came out.  
> http://spice.eplus.jp/articles/272181  
> The protag's actors were all asked which character of the other New Gens they'd like to portray. (spoilers: half the crew wanted to play Katsumi lol)  
> Rough translations my friend gave me: Gai wanted to play Hiroyuki, Hiroyuki wanted to play a character he could have good banter with the secondary (Hikaru & Shou or Katsumi & Isami), Katsumi wanted to play someone with a defence team uniform, Shou wanted to be Katsumi, Isami wanted to be Katsumi, Daichi wanted to be Katsumi, Hikaru liked the idea of being Riku.  
> so yeah, everyone is Katsumi-  
> Since this text box appears at the end of every chapter, here's a handy graphic of who's been swapped to who in case you get confused. (I also get confused, and I'm the person who wrote this darn thing.)  
>   
> (please ignore the mis-label of Shou as Katsumi and Daichi as Isami, I messed up making the graphic and I'm too tired to fix it.)


End file.
